Random Garden Goodness (and grossness!)

Did you know that certain elements in soil have been shown to combat depression? (no source to back up this claim, I've just heard it over and over and over again)

I believe it! I've felt so cooped up and contained and cranky from this past winter. I would look out the windows and think, "I just don't have the energy to garden anymore!".

But I forced myself out a couple of weeks ago and my dormant garden soul has come alive again. I love working in the dirt! I love gardening! I love planting and evaluating what is growing and reworking my arrangements. Here are the highlights of this week.

First: The seedlings

I was a bit late in getting my tomato and basil seeds planted (see above paragraph for explanation). Almost all of my tomato seeds were from last year's plants that I carefully saved using this tutorial. Guess what? They all germinated.

And they all grew so well that I needed to transplant them all into different containers burying the first set of leaves as I re-planted them. I spent several lovely afternoons working at my backyard dining table transplating these lovelies.

Next: The Raspberries

We also got serious about our new raspberries bushes. confession: I know nothing about growing raspberries so I cannot teach the concept of raspberry growing quite yet. You are witnessing our attempts at figuring out the process.

I used old metal fencing to stake up the bushes. I strung plastic-coated garden wire through each stake and wove each raspberry plant between the "layers" of wire. I then dug a deep 8 inch trench around the raspberry area and my husband cut and set some plywood barriers to fashion a makeshift raspberry container.

 We'll see how this works!

Next up: Roses.

Confession: as old-fashioned and unexciting as it seems, I do love roses. Maybe it is because it reminds me so much of my grandparents and their love of growing roses. I know that rose gardening is a science unto itself and at this point in my life I don't have the time to devote to serious disease-free rose gardening.

Enter The Knock-Out Rose. This is a special variety that is bred to resist disease and pump out blooms all summer long. I've had my eye on this hybrid for quite some time, but I didn't like the early Knock-outs 8 years ago and the blooms that they produced. Plus, they were crazy expensive (at least in my area of the Pac NW).

So imagine my surprise when I walked into Fred Meyer gardening center and saw these gorgeous double flowering Knock-Outs that resemble a hybrid Tea rose!

And do you see the price? $14.99? And that is not on sale, that's a full price. I don't have a sunny spot left in my yard for this rose, but I'm thinking a container somewhere. Nay, I need to make a spot for a container or two of Knock-Outs!

Last: The Grossest Fungus I have ever seen

If you have been following my blog through this spring, you know that I have covered most of my planting beds with black plastic in hopes of suffocating weed seeds and keeping the soil warm and weed-free. As I was out walking the garden a few weeks ago, I came across this creature growing in one of my beds.

They appeared after a three-week bout of heavy rain. I could tell it was a fungus of some sort and it was large!

They first appeared at the bed that borders one corner of our house (the white wood you see at the top of the picture is the siding of our house). They grew quite fast and furious from under the house and soon expanded into the main bed, peeking from underneath the black plastic.

I won't lie, it freaked me out a bit. Even when I dug up the "flower" part of the fungus, it came back within the few days. I know that fungus in a garden often indicates decomposition, so I figured that it was all the compost in my soil breaking down. But sheesh - a orange, thick fibered being in my soil? FREAKED ME OUT!

Luckily, one of my best neighbors is a high school biology teacher and garden expert herself so she quickly identified it as "Pig's Ear". I googled the term and it turns out to be a common Pac NW fungus that grows after warm heavy rains. Once the sun came out, they disappeared into the night. Good riddance freaky fungus!

Linked to Tuesday Garden Party at anoregoncottage.com

Spring Front Yard 2012

Spring Front Yard 2012

My front yard planting bed has often been my experimental lab. It's a small planting bed (in my grandiose opinion) and I dont' have a lot of room to experiment or try new things. Luckily it's a sunny bed, even though it is north facing and I can usually squeeze in a new plant or edit something I didn't like.

 This year, I had several "annual" plants decide to overwinter and come back - mainly most of the primroses I planted last spring. Great addition to the spring planting!

I doubled my tulip and daffodil bulbs last fall and you can see the bright colors that all came out this past weekend in the 80 degree sunny days!

This year I tucked a blueberry plant in a container (it's that big terracotta thing) behind my daylillies. My plan is to paint the pot with spray paint made for plastics in hopes that it won't stick out like a sore thumb in the bed.

this is the shade portion of the front bed - I moved all my columbines next to each other to create a mini mass planting (there are five plants in there!). The early daffodil leaves poke out amongst the columbine and I'm thinking I may go out to cut them down so they don't distract that much. (overwintered primrose peeking out underneath)

This is the bed that sits under our front bay window. The tulips are a bright pop of color greeting each visitor. This bed also has two grand hydrangea plants that grow so large they cover half the window (which, frankly, doesn't bother me a bit because it is a fantastic privacy shade without sacrificing any light!)

 View front the front porch looking down to the driveway and street. Sigh. Isn't Oregon beautiful?

I started this project last week. You can't really tell from the pictures, but I'm putting landscape fabric down between the boxwoods and then putting mulch over the fabric. I'm so sick and tired of weeding this part of my yard.

I also started in on my front containers. My front porch is completely shaded, so I opt for shade-loving plants for the containers. I dug up a small fern from my yard and transplanted it into the larger container and finished off with pansies. I'm looking for a bright chartreuse colored heuchera to go on the left side of this container - probably something I'll only find in a specialty nursery.

I also started my porch planters. I've done this arrangement a few years ago and after a few years of playing around with other plantings, I've decided that this combination is my favorite.

In the back - Coleus

In the middle - Impatiens and Pansies (white and purple tones)

In the front - fuchsias and trailing verbena on the front corners

  

I have yet to find the coleus and so only the front two layers are planted thus far, but check out what overwintered. It's an asparagus fern from last year's planter. Maybe I'll incorporate it into the planting or transplant to another.

I'll update front yard once the spring plants die down and we get set for the main show of summer plantings. Hurray for a new gardening year!

Linking with Tuesday Garden Party

Oliver + S ice cream social dress finished!

Remember how I committed to sewing Lane's entire spring/summer wardrobe?

I have made good on this decision for the most part - I have sewn 6 pairs of shorts and 5 tops. Not exactly a wardrobe, but certainly enough mix n match pieces to start with!

Now, let me tell you my absolute hands-down favorite pattern designer is Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S fame. I began my sewing journey only six months ago and after sewing a few of O+S patterns, I feel somewhat competent - they are that good!

I recently took on this pattern - the ice cream social dress.

It's rated 2 on a scale of 1-4 (4 being most difficult) and it honestly was so much fun to sew! My most favorite part was that all of the raw edges are contained in the seam allowances - you don't have to finish anything inside (after using French seams for the sides). I used a shot cotton and although it wrinkles easily (that's okay since it really is a play shirt), it is very comfortable, bright and fun.

I originally made the entire dress in View A, and it looked very cute on the hanger, but once I got it on Lane, it looked heavy and frumpy. I pained me to take my scissors to the bottom, but it really is much cuter as a tunic.

 It's made in the 3T size for both the yoke and main panel, and I find that the yoke is almost too snug on the arms and a little wide on her chest (as you can see in the pictures) Although this is my first time with this pattern, I'm afraid I may have to size up on the yoke for her (which means buying this pattern in the larger size since the small size only goes up to 3T)

Overall, I'm in love with pretty much everything Liesl does. I have these patterns all cut out

sailboat skirt in bright pink gingham

Hopscotch skirt in pink with white polka dots

Class Picnic blouse in black and white polka dot with bright pink Class Picnic Shorts trimmed with B & W bias tape

My agora

As our time in Salem feels rather limited, I wanted to take this moment in time to honor the space I have called home for the past five years.

Let me give you a teeny, tiny background. I'm currently in a small group. This is a group with a religious affiliation towards Christianity where I meet with a small group of women and we study Christian texts and hold a discussion group. Recently, we completed the book, "The Healing Path", by Dan Allender and in our last discussion as a group we talked about one of the principles of the book. The principle was called "agora" and basically it means that in ancient Greek society, the central gathering place was called agora and it was a place of "commerce, information, and ideas." At the heart of Greek cities, good were sold, artisans interacted with others in their trade, and people gathered to debate political, philosophical, and theological matters - Dan Allender, The Healing Path, pg. 241.  

In our modern day lives, we often lack that place of agora - that place where we feel central and where we are relevant. In my small group we challenged each other to find our own individual agoras and communicate them to the group.

I knew instantly where my agora lies. It lies in this little mecca that I call home in my neighborhood, on my little street that borders farmlands, in a small city town called Salem. And so I present to you my agora, in no particular order:

My garden

 I have converted my small backyard into a wonderful urban farm that feeds our family well during hte growing months. Not only does it provide nutrition, but our yard also provides relaxation, play, a place to convene (when we invite others to join us), and a place for education (where I teach my urban gardening classes).

Our living spaces



 Our home is literally filled to the brim with light when it is sunny. Our well worn couches and large family room have provided comfort and enjoyment to many many MANY friends and acquaintances.

My current design studio- or rather my master bedroom. 

 It is a place that overlooks my garden and provides good natural light where I can sit and create with my sewing machine. I never knew I would find such enjoyment in creating garments and home decor.

A community of artists who create beautiful things and the work I have done to keep our family debt-free.



 I take care of pets on the side to earn a little extra money. One of my clients is a well known Salem artist and recently gifted me one of her pieces as a thank you for taking good care of her pets. The money I was paid for my service has already disappeared, but the art will always remain as something I did to keep our family on a cash-only basis and stay true to the principles of debt-free living.

The entrance to my home



The entrance to our home has always been my pet project. I'm always tweaking and changing what grows here. When you come to our home you never know what will greet you, but you should always know that I have labored with love to create a beautiful greeting for you.

My kitchen

I have taught all of my children to cook in my kitchen. No gender or age is spared, if you live in our house, you learn how to cook. Many meals have been prepared from scratch in this kitchen. Many discussions over a variety of topics have occurred right here. We went from eating a typical American diet to a diet more similar to homesteaders - pure, natural, whole foods - a diet cooked in cast iron skillets and with foods grown and raised close to home. 

The house we occupy.



 We have grown our family from four to six members while living here. We are literally sitting on top of each other in this house and yet our family has never been closer or shared as much as we have here in this little house.

Our street on a sunny day.



This was taken on a day in March before the leaves had fully come out on the trees. You can see the wide streets and sidewalks on both sides. You can see the farmlands right there on the other side of our street. You can imagine how my kids have played and rode on these streets for hours. You can imagine the neighbors that I have grown to love. The people that look out for each other - something I have never had. We tend each other's pets, watch out for each other's kids. We call or text if someone left their garage door open. We each built raised beds in our backyards. WE share seeds and starts. WE share extra vegetables and clothes. I have never lived in a place like this street. I don't know if I ever will and so I want to remember this place for what it was in our lives.

My home, my street, my current life is my agora. Thank you God for giving it to me.

Outdoor Updates and Shade Garden Favorites

Linking with Oregon Cottage for other great garden ideas

Hello Friends! Wow, have we had an exciting beginning to our 2012 Garden season! Would you believe that we had almost 6" of snow here in Salem,OR in late March? Well believe it because we did! I had spent the previous week planting my "spring" garden a bit too early but I wanted to see what would happen if I planted in mid-March vs. early-April.  

 

I decided to leave town and head north to visit family in Seattle,WA for my kids' spring break. We visited my brother and sister in law's fabulous home- check out the little kids having a great time in their woodland garden.

This past week, upon returning to Oregon, we had rain, rain, rain. Then, a few days ago, the clouds disappeared and it was a sunny day, low and behold.  It was in the low 60's and for us here in Western Oregon it was glorious. When it gets warm and sunny here in Western Oregon, you drop everything and head outside. My little kids stripped down (well the boy did), donned their rain boots, and they played while I worked.

The little kids had a great time playing in a planter that had filled to the brim with water. yes, it kind of bothered me that they were playing in dirty water, but I figured that it was a fun childhood experience so I let it go and embraced the moment :-)

A beautiful day in the March garden with my two little kids playing in water. It is times like this photograph when I want to stop time and soak up the beauty in it.

The salad garden. A mesclun mix.

The raised beds that are in full sun are still in dormancy with black plastic over them. These beds will house tomatoes and peppers in the summer.

Another view of the tomato beds. I'm using black plastic to cook out the weeds and raise the soil temperature.

Blueberry buds.

Another blueberry plant  leafing out - different variety

 Now let me introduce you to some of my favorite shade plants! In my own yard, I have many micro climates - meaning I have different areas that I need to plan for different planting conditions. I have a South-facing backyard which would typically indicate a hot, sun filled yard. However, next to the fence, there is about 5 feet of shade-filled space. When we installed the raised edible beds, we also installed a border along the fence that I fill with shade-loving plants. Here are some of my favorites:

Hosta plants emerging in the shade garden.

Fern plants. Can you see the new growth curling up?

New fern plant curling out

Astilbe plants coming up

Heuchera plants. They are very easy plants to divide in the spring - in the photo you can see three separate plants that can be sliced apart and replanted in different areas.

Bleeding Hearts - dicentria - emerging!

Another view of the Bleeding Hearts plant - this plant is very easy to divide and I have found that it blooms pretty much all summer even though it is typically a spring blooming plant.

The best for last - my most favorite shade plant - the Hellebore plant or otherwise known as the Lenten Rose.

Lungwort. I picked this speckled gem up from a best friend up in Washington state. It is very easy to divide - SO EASY to divide and I used it to border most of my shade border. In the spring, it has a cute little purple flower. The best border plant!